Real friends list

Since the friends list has been hijacked for game functionality choices, it seems appropriate that there is another friends list in which we only include.... wait for it... wait for it... wait for it... friends!

And BTW, the current friends list should not show when we login and logout. That is private information for... wait for it... wait for it... wait for it... friends!

After this new friends list is added, please add the option to make everyone in the game a member of the old friends list.

Joking aside, my friends list should not be more than a handful of people, smaller than my guild list, with the sole intent of socializing and having fun together. Please, pretty please, unhook teleport scrolls and don't put mail restrictions or anything else based on it. @Berek , can you please relay this concern so at least it is not taken lightly. I get why it was used just because it was easy, cheap and available, but it may be a significant oversight to bind game features with social relationships.

 

Curious then.. what exactly should this new friends list be used for vs the old?

If it's only the identify who you personally consider friends then.. could you not say.. flag someone on the existing list so they're a different color? and/or always appear on top?

Color coding and sorting options would be an interesting addition to the list.

Alternatively, what about a custom list? ie ore sellers.. Well color coding alone (if it's customizable to some degree) would allow you to basically have multiple custom lists within the friends list. Add sorting options and maybe a hide/show by color feature and you have yourself a pretty flexible system for sorting out your social network.

 

Sure those are good options. But also it is a major invasion of privacy to have everyone on the list notified when I come and go. I don't want to know that about them either. It is no ones business where I am in the game and what I am doing. Too much exposure really makes my not want to logon when I am not in a chatty mood. And I want to get mail from anyone, not have to proclaim myself a lifelong friend to send a mail.

In any game I have a friends list of less than 7 people. There is a reason for that.

 

That would go over well, lol. And i never use scrolls BTW. That is just a disease making people be friends Kind of missing the point. Everyone should have a friends list for the purpose of socializing and nothing more.

 

I agree, we need to detach teleport scrolls from our friends list and restrict it some other way. What if we joined the current system to Bowens idea and restricted teleporting to the top 10 people in your friends list whom you could only change once per day or once per week?

 

Almost anything is better than the current system.

 

In that case you need a privacy toggle.

 

How about just being able to 'favorite' friends Not by color, but by filling in a star or heart next to them the same way you would favorite a music track or bookmark a webpage And yes, to move it to the top.

 

More Tabs is always good. I don't want any "restrictions" and complicated reasoning's placed in it. "I just want more tabs" <---<<< The same as our chat box is. If anyone wants to expand their list to another tab, then they should then be able to.

Options are the hallmark of SOTA and not it's restrictions ~Time Lord~

 

What is going on Tahru? Who pissed in your Cheerios? I am the defender of those whose Cheerios get pissed in.

 

Nonsense - they simply could to give you the option to /hidefriends and /showfriends

They are self explanatory, you hide - your disconnected from all friends stuff - your game stops querying the server about your friends status, stops logging online/offline, and you can't teleport to anyone. You would still be able to right click and/or text type whisper with friends. You show - it's the system they have now.

Done. Execute. Sad for @Tahru with only 7 friends...that has to get awkward - not enough people to like your posts - which seems to be one of the only metrics Portalarium follows here on the forums => Raw quantity of posts and raw likes received.

V/R Brickbat

 

lol, thanks!

 

I just use the current friends list. I don't add people just to have teleport options

 

Me too.
I request: autodecline friend request.
Its annoying to cancel every few minutes a friend request from Avatars I dont know.

 

Like this idea. Have the new friends list not connected to teleport - just be a true friends list. Maybe call it "kindred" or "kin" like the permission level names.

That would definitely cut down on all the friend requests. If teleport was taken out of the new list, you'd only get requests from true, legit friends (hopefully).

 

Is the problem that people have accepted friend requests and now wish they hadn't because they were just random requests?

I know when I started playing in trial I got a random one but didn't accept because I really didn't know who or where they were. But later when I understood the teleport scroll feature, I just decided to go ahead and accept, because honestly traveling far distances can be soooo painful at times.

Notice I said at times, because I sometimes go overland looking for encounters or exploring the map and visiting out-of-the-way player towns. But if I can be of help to others when they need to travel, I'm fine with that. Just a personal decision, not saying there is anything wrong at all with keeping your friends list limited to people you know and play with in-game. (I thoughtfully considered that too.)

Wouldn't the easiest way to address the OP's situation be to remove the names that aren't really friends, but rather are the random friend requests? If I am not grasping the issue at hand, I apologize. If that is the case, I wouldn't worry about hurting someone's feelings, since they probably have a large list for travel reasons anyway. I don't know if people even get an alert if they are removed.

On a somewhat related note, it would be nice to be able to add a note by a name on the friend list.

 

And really Erik said it much more succinctly than I did

 

Right click on Player Name in Social List - "View/Edit Note"

 

Sounds like an analysis is needed sometime to make the social features better/correct in the mid-term.

For Launch though, are there any deal breakers here regarding the use of the Friends list that cannot be overcome mechanically by the end user?

For a full Social System there are layers of things like the following (which are sort of like real life, go figure):

• Town
• Alliance of Guilds
• Guild
• Work Groups (people in same line of business, work at an in-game company, are Streamers, are Charity people) and belong to several of these.
• Friends (literally, people you want to hang out with and trust to some degree)
• Enemies (literally, people you don't like or want to see or deal with)
• Family (those out of game who are your real family, share info, etc.)
• Kindred (those in game you REALLY trust in game)
• etc.

Can be very complex!

Teleporting to people or sending mail are perhaps small yet important mechanics connected to a simple social system right now -- Friends. As more capabilities are added (company wages for people in work groups as a possible example), a simple friends list won't work.

I do indeed like addition of Privacy features so people always feel they can play this game "safely" from their point of view.

I also know @dallas has chimed in at telethons and in person at times regarding the Social nature of SotA, and how great it is and can be. So Portalarium seems to be committed to the Social nature/connections of people playing this game too. Mechanically, perhaps it will come better in EP 2.

 

Thanks! I'm not in game so I was afraid I might post this and then log in and realize it's already there! Good to know it's already a feature.